How companies can build consumer trust in an age of privacy concerns

Do you know to what extent companies are tracking you and your data? 

If your answer is “no,” you’re not alone. 

“The average consumer doesn't really understand how much is really being tracked and how little control they have over it,” says Glenn Gore, CEO of Affinidi, a technology firm offering data and identity management solutions.

As a result, many consumers are more cautious about divulging personal data to companies in the first place and strive to have greater awareness about their data and privacy rights. 

“Consumers choose the sites they interact with based on their privacy and trust policies - if it doesn’t seem trustworthy, they’re not going to transact on it,” Gore shares. 

This lack of trust could negatively affect businesses’ brand image, customer relationships, and ultimately, their bottom lines. 

However, customers are also demanding more personalized experiences at the same time - something that can only be possible with data.   

This begs the question: What can businesses do to build trust in order to collect the data they need to give customers these personalized experiences?

Fostering trust 

According to Gore, one of the first things companies can do is to clearly communicate what they need customer data for. 

When getting people to fill in sign-up forms, for example, companies should explain clearly why they need someone’s information and how sharing a specific piece of information may be beneficial. This creates a sense that the company has the user’s best interest in mind. 

While this may be obvious for some fields, such as name and email address, it may be less so for others. A pet shop, for example, may want to know when a customer’s birthday is in order to offer birthday month promotions, even though it isn’t directly relevant to the pet shop’s core services. 

“Also, use natural language,” Gore adds. “Move away from legal jargon - it’s hard for people to understand.” 

This approach is even more important when you consider that a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) Infobrief, produced in partnership with Affinidi, found that over 87% of customers stopped signing up for apps due to excessive hassles or perceived lack of trustworthiness. The less friction for the end user, the better. 

On a related note, Gore also recommends that companies streamline the kinds of information they collect from customers. 

“Limit the amount of information you actually need and store,” he says. “Aside from reducing friction on the customer’s end, from a security perspective, the least amount of data that the business collects about people means that if there’s a security breach, then the minimum amount of data will be leaked.”

It also helps build customer trust when businesses avoid holding on to customer data if it isn’t necessary.

Consider a bank: It only needs to know someone’s financial position and employment history at the point of approving them for a loan - once that’s been disbursed, it doesn’t need that information anymore and could discard it. 

A new way of doing familiar things 

Aside from reworking the way they interact with customers and their data, businesses should also tackle the question of personal data and privacy with a different mindset - that of holistic identity management. 

Instead of companies holding all the data, holistic identity management offers the opportunity to “flip the script” and put the power back in the hands of consumers. Customers can pick and choose what to share with businesses, which helps build greater trust. 

“The average person has almost 200 online identities and accounts and no way to link those together,” Gore explains. “With holistic identity management, you can unify these identities. Instead of having to log in to a business, a business has to ‘log in’ to you.”

While holistic identity management is a relatively new concept, Affinidi aims to make it more widespread by educating the market and developers as well as through its Affinidi Trust Network Suite of products.

The network offers products to help developers integrate data from multiple sources. It ensures that the data shared is accurate and not falsified and gives individuals the means to provide consent for data sharing while verifying the identities of all parties involved. 

It also includes services such as the Affinidi Vault, which allows users to discover, store, collect, share, and even monetize their data. There’s also Affinidi Login, a passwordless authentication product, and Affinidi Concierge, a private AI personal assistant that helps users optimize and manage the use of their stored data. 

Here’s what it would look like in action: Instead of having to create a new account when shopping on a new ecommerce platform, users can just “log in” with their Affinidi Vault and share relevant information with the site. And the data they can share isn’t just the usual particulars like their name, gender, mailing address, and credit card information. They can also disclose more specific things that can lead to a better experience on the site, such as the style of clothes they prefer. 

"Instead of having to log in to a business, a business has to ‘log in’ to you."

Data certainly backs the notion of holistic identity. The IDC infobrief found that 87% of customers are willing to share personal information in return for rewards, discounts, offers, and improved experiences. What if you could show your health insurance provider that you exercise regularly by sharing workout data from your Fitbit app and pay a lower premium? 

“If you can control your data - and control how you share these aspects about yourself - you as a consumer can unlock different brand values,” says Gore. “There’s a lot of ourselves that we can’t access today, but holistic identity unlocks that and lets you reclaim your identity.” 

The winds of change 

Greater privacy and greater personalization may seem to be at odds, but they can go hand in hand. Rethinking their approach to data collection and leveraging new methods of authentication and identity management can help businesses create this flywheel of trust with customers.

This will be all the more important with the rise of AI.

“It's never been cheaper or easier to store data, and AI is incredibly good at going through vast amounts of data and identifying patterns of aspects that actual humans wouldn't even be able to see,” Gore explains. “If you take that combination of data that never dies and the AI that can see everything, that's when you can see that it's quite easy to misuse AI for bad purposes. So it’s critical that consumers and companies have greater control and awareness of their data.” 

And one bonus? Holistic identity management also enables better customer relationships and experiences. 

“Companies that can establish the highest trust with their consumers will be the winners,” Gore shares. “If I trust the company more, I'm willing to share even more about myself, and if I share more about myself, I'm going to get an even better experience.” 

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Affinidi is a technology company dedicated to changing data ownership for good. It envisions a world where everyone can effortlessly and securely control, manage, and extract value from their data. 

Find out more about Affinidi on its website. 

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This content was produced by Tech in Asia Studios, which connects brands with Asia's tech community. Learn more about partnering with Tech in Asia Studios.